Lady Bulldogs open home schedule Thursday

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast plays its first home game of the 2016-17 season Thursday, entertaining Bishop State at 5:30 p.m. in the Weathers/Wentzell Center.

This will be the fourth game for the Lady Bulldogs. After many hours of practice, and three road trips, they'll finally get to shoot on the rims their most familiar with.

"Playing at home should be a benefit," Gulf Coast coach Jason Conner said. "With that, comes a lot of other situations. You're playing in front of friends and families, another layer of things that our team will have to deal with. There are a lot of other responsibilities and emotions to deal with."

The Lady Bulldogs (2-1) played Bishop State (1-4) in their last game, defeating the Lady Wildcats 59-57 in Mobile on Nov. 7.

Shaniqua Tobias (5-6, So, New Orleans/Warren Easton) had 13 points to lead Gulf Coast, with Alexis Stewart (5-10, Fr, Tchula/Holmes County Central) and Keiara Williams (6-1, Fr, New Orleans/Warren Easton) adding 12 each. Williams yanked down 11 rebounds to lead the team.

Conner is looking for better offensive execution, but defense and rebounding are the cornerstones of his effort.

"We're still trying to build team leadership. The expectation of excellence, of hard play all the time," he said. "With this many freshmen, this many new faces, that's a constant work in progress. I'm hoping we get a great defensive effort, and we'll create some offense and some easy baskets."

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